Breakdown: TrackingPoint Smart Rifle

In 2009, Craig Harrison of the UK’s Household Cavalry sniped two Taliban insurgents from a distance of 8,120 ft, or 1.54 miles. They were the longest sniper kills ever recorded. Shots like Harrison’s are rare: external factors like wind resistance and gravity contribute roughly one inch of inaccuracy for every 300 feet a bullet travels, and that’s in addition to human sources of error like misaiming, trigger jerk and shot setup miscalculation.

TrackingPoint, a startup from Austin, wants to change that. Their XactSystem Precision Guided Firearm System ($9,950+) — which comes standard with an Integrated Networked Tracking Scope, Guided Trigger, and Tag Button, Pelican 3300 hard case, three batteries and chargers, 200 rounds of XactShot Ammunition by Barnes, a cleaning kit and a tablet loaded with the TrackingPoint App and ShotView App — turns any layman into a marksman at up to 3,600 feet, depending on model. Although the system was developed for hunters, the US military just bought six, which they’re integrating into XM 2010 Sniper rifles. Scary? Yes. But regardless of where you stand on the civilian arms race taking place in our country, there’s no denying the impressive array of tech in the Precision Guided Firearm System. We break it down above.

From the client evaluation to the material selection to the tedious labor, one thing’s clear: making custom skis requires patience and skill. We recently watched the laborious creation process up close.

In 2011, Jimmy Chin climbed one of the hardest peaks in the world, Shark's Fin on Mount Meru. What's more impressive is that he filmed the adventure, then turned it into a documentary that just won big at Sundance.